SEXUAL SELECTION 518 



when the peacock displays himself, he expands and erects 

 his tail transversely to his body, for he stands in front of 

 the female, and has to show off, at the same time, his rich 

 blue throat and breast. But the breast of the Polyplectron 

 is obscurely colored, and the ocelli are not confined to the 

 tail-feathers. Consequently the Polyplectron does not stand 

 in front of the female ; but he erects and expands his tail> 

 feathers a little obliquely, lowering the expanded wing on 

 the same side, and raising that on the opposite side. In this 

 attitude the ocelli over the whole body are exposed at the 

 same time before the eyes of the admiring female in one 

 grand bespangled expanse. To whichever side she may 

 turn, the expanded wings and the obliquely held tail are 

 turned toward her. The male Tragopan pheasant acts in 

 nearly the same manner, for he raises the feathers of the 

 body, though not the wing itself, on the side which is op- 

 posite to the female, and which would otherwise be con- 

 cealed, so that nearly all the beautifully spotted feathers 

 are exhibited at the same time. 



The Argus pheasant affords a much more remarkable 

 case. The inamensely developed secondary wing-feathera 

 are confined to the male; and each is ornamented with a 

 row of from twenty to twenty-three ocelli, above an inch in 

 diameter. These feathers are also elegantly marked with 

 oblique stripes and rows of spots of a dark color, like those 

 on the skin of a tiger and leopard combined. These bean- 

 tiful ornaments are bidden until the male shows himself off 

 before the female. He then erects his tail, and expands his 

 wing-feathers into a great, almost upright,* circular fan or 

 shield, which is carried in front of the body. The neck 

 and head are held on one side, so that they are concealed 

 by the fan; but the bird, in order to see the female before 

 whom he is displaying himself, sometimes pushes his head 

 between two of the long wing-feathers (as Mr. Bartlett has 

 seen), and then presents a grotesque appearance. This 

 must be a frequent habit with the bird in a state of 

 nature, for Mr. Bartlett and his son, on examining some 



